The phenomenal success of tablet computers, such as Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) 's iPad, has helped Carphone Warehouse shake off a sluggish consumer market in Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURTRUSD - news) and America.
The retailer reported a mixed set of first-quarter trading figures, but said it had tripled sales of tablet devices in the last few months thanks to the launch of the second-generation Apple device and rival gadgets such as the BlackBerry Playbook and the HTC Flyer.
Roger Taylor, the retailer's chief executive said the gadgets had attracted consumers but so too had the "imaginative price points" of the "tethered" versions of the tablets, which contain a SIM card, allowing consumers to surf the internet on the go even if they are outside of a Wi-Fi area. These "tethered" versions generate higher profit margins for Carphone.
But Mr Taylor warned that however exciting the sales of tablets were the company was still only selling thousands a month, rather than tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands.
Tablet sales helped offset weak sales of mobile phones in Europe. The company reported a fall in like-for-like sales of 3.3pc, though it said that a large part of this fall was down to consumers in the UK moving from 18-month to 24-month contracts.
Some consumer campaigners have argued that this switch is unfair on customers, trapping them into overly long expensive contracts. Though the trend is beneficial to mobile phone operators, it has meant that fewer customers have visited Carphone stores to upgrade their phones and buy additional services. Mr Taylor estimated that between 70,000 and 100,000 fewer customers renewed their contracts in the first quarter of the year because of the switch.
Stripping out this factor and the fact that a year ago Apple launched its iPhone 4, like-for-likes sales would have increased by about 2pc, Mr Taylor said.
He added that the best performance had come from Spain and The Netherlands, while Germany and Britain were lacklustre.
Carphone Warehouse said its European operation suffered a 5.5pc drop in connections.
The company did not give an update on Best Buy UK, its joint-venture with the American retailer Best Buy (Dusseldorf: BUY.DU - news) which has attempted to take on the likes of Dixons and Comet in the UK, but which has proved consistently disappointing. The company, faced with a dire market for white goods, has been unable to reach its revised target of 20 stores, let alone 100. There are just 10 stores.
Mr Taylor said the company would provide a full update in September or October.
The shares increased 30 to 435p.
